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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23042809">It's all about choices</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/feedesmarais/pseuds/feedesmarais'>feedesmarais</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Song of Ice and Fire &amp; Related Fandoms, Game of Thrones (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Brienne of Tarth is the Best, F/M, Fix-It, Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, Inspired by Orpheus and Eurydice (Ancient Greek Religion &amp; Lore), My First Fanfic, POV Brienne of Tarth, Post-Season/Series 08 Finale, Reunions</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 15:41:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,239</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23042809</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/feedesmarais/pseuds/feedesmarais</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens to Brienne after the end of Game of Thrones. I was not pleased with the ending. I'm trying to reconcile the end of the show with my love for the book characters. So, it's kind of a fix-it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>It's all about choices</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>It's my first fanfic and my first work in english (I'm french). Please tell me if something is wrong. I've been reading jaime and Brienne fanfic on a3o since last spring and have really enjoyed a lot of works. So, it's my turn to try and contribute to the lore!<br/>The characters in this fic are from the show but I've put some references to the book when it made sense for me. I was inspired by Jaime's weirwood dream in A Storm Of Swords.<br/>This fix-it occured to me after re-watching Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki. I'm also inspired by Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn by Robert Holdstock and The Divine Comedy by Dante.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The full moon is shining in the sky, a big ball of pale fire. Brienne is laying awake in her bed in the white tower. She cannot sleep. She feels like a prisoner. She’s a knight but she’s helpless, haunted by past tragedies. Brienne is alone in her room in the white tower. She feels like the ghost of the knight she loved.  She could be a lost princess, forever forgotten in a lone tower amidst the woods. She could be Rhaena, prisoner of Harrenhal, waiting for her end after she’s lost her husband and her twin daughters. Brienne is in King’s Landing, in the Red Keep, far from the Riverlands. Or so it seems. Because she’s hearing it distinctly. A wolf. No. A direwolf howling under the moon. Brienne is awaken, standing by the window. She stares at the grey shadow in the courtyard. The direwolf barks. Nothing moves. 

She puts on her armor and takes her blade, Oathkeeper. The lion’s ruby eyes are looking at her. Brienne winds down the stairs but there’s nothing she finds at the foot of the tower. A door is wide open. More stairs. Brienne crosses the courtyard and goes down, down and down. She’s well under the Keep. There are torches on the wall and a mosaic on the ground: a three headed dragon. Brienne looks around her. She never came here. There’s another door with a wolf’s head sculpted above. She takes a torch and goes down the corridor. There are branches at the end, white wood, bare limbs and a hole, a big hole amidst the roots which goes down and down. Brienne ears the direwolf. She doesn’t know why but she feels summoned. She goes down the hole. It’s dark. 

Soon, she walks amongst ruins. The black bones of a city which was burnt long ago. There are walls, dark places, doors, wolfs’ heads, lions’ heads, all set in stone. The streets are empty. There’s a forest in the distance. The wolves are howling. A pack. Brienne looks for shadows. Who goes there? 

She’s walking along a huge house. Lion’s statues are everywhere. There is a woman with short hair on the balcony. She keeps filling her cup of wine and emptying it on the street. The wine is going down the road, a little stream of blood. Brienne watches the woman. Green flames are dancing in her eyes. She can’t reach her. There is another shadow behind: an older man with ice in the eyes. He’s standing but his hands are on his abdomen, clutching, as if being afraid of spilling his guts. He’s watching in the distance, seeing nothing. The wolves are howling. Brienne follows the wine stream. It grows. It becomes a river. Someone is waiting for her. A girl, in a boat, with a direwolf : Arya Stark. Brienne watches her sword. She says : “I made an oath to keep him safe”. Arya looks at her with eyes as black as coal. “She’s Lady”, she says. Brienne nods toward the direwolf, acknowledging. “Where am I?, asks Brienne. Where are we going?<br/>
-	Are you afraid?, answers Arya. You’re going where no one comes back. That’s where I went".<br/>
Brienne watches the water. There are shadows. Bodies. She sees her brother Galladon, body white and rotten, eyes eaten by the crows. Brienne wants to dive to bring him back, but Arya takes her arm. “Not now, she says. We need to go through the gates”. Arya leads Brienne towards a grotto’s entrance. She waves toward it : “There. Here’s the witch. She will decide. I’ll wait”. Inside the cave, Brienne spots the red priestess, Melisandre, surrounded by fire and shadows. She watches Brienne intently. “I killed Renly, she declares. Don’t you want him back?” Brienne tastes bile in her throat. She looks at her sword and answers clearly : “I’m not here for that”. Melisandre accepts to let her pass. 

Brienne treads past windswept meadows, shadows, spare trees with people hanging. Brienne’s walking among strange fruits. She discerns a hooded form, sitting on a stone, singing maybe. Brienne approaches and gasps : “Lady Catelyn!”. The tall figure has fire in the eyes but she doesn’t seem to recognize Brienne: “They laid with wolves. They laid with lions. What’s the difference?” she questioned. Brienne doesn’t know what to reply. She’s hearing a mockingbird in the distance. “The noose or the sword! Choose! Choose!”. Lady Stark is clutching Brienne’s throat but she’s too frail to do any harm. Brienne flees, grasping the hilt of her sword. It’s dark. She’s alone. She walks and walks and walks. The meadows become greener and greener. Blue flowers appear everywhere. Finally she sees the sea on the horizon, or the ocean. She doesn’t know. There is a little cottage in the distance. Brienne decides to head toward it. She heards children. They’re running and laughing, playing in the hills. She sees her sisters. She calls them but they can’t see her. There are blond children too. Brienne’s heart makes a leap. She knows them : Myrcella and Tommen Baratheon. There are others too. A lot of children. 

She feels someone clutching her elbow. She has never seen him, yet she knows instantly who he is : Rhaegar Targaryen. He watches her and recognizes her from a time he never knew. It’s weird. Why can he see her while the others cannot? He shows two children: “Rhaenys and Aegon, he says. I can’t talk to them, even if they’re mine. I failed them. This is my own hell. I chose to be there. He’s here too. Don’t make the same mistake. You have to choose. Choose well”.<br/>
Brienne finds Jaime in the cottage. He’s sitting on the bed, his head between his hands. She says his name. “Why are you here?, he asks.<br/>
-	I made an oath to keep you safe, answers Brienne.<br/>
-	I’m sorry”. That’s all he says.<br/>
Brienne doesn’t care about wolfs, dragons, lions and other wild things. She doesn’t care about the shadows and the past. She cares about love, oaths and bravery. That’s all. She gives him her hand. “Take it, she says. Follow me. Don’t you dare leaving me again. Don’t you dare looking behind you and I’ll do the same”. Jaime does what he’s told and follows Brienne through the meadows. Rhaegar is standing in the distance. He nods. Brienne is really afraid. She’s clutching Jaime’s hand. Her own palms are moist. She’s gritting her teeth. “Don’t you dare”, she keeps saying. They walk almost in silence. Brienne’s heart is pounding wildly. At last, she spots the river. Arya is taking a nap on the bank. Her head is resting against her direwolf’s fur. She snaps when she hears Brienne and smiles. “Hop, on the boat”, she says. Jaime and Brienne go aboard. They lay on the boat, clutching to each other. Brienne closes her eyes; her nose is full of Jaime’s scent. Maybe she falls asleep. 

Arya wakes her with her boots on her ribs. The little boat is in King’s Landing harbour. The full moon is shining overhead. “Out, says Arya. I can’t come with you”. Jaime and Brienne take foot in the silent city. They look at each other. In this light, he seems very alive. In this light, he looks like her perfect knight. He smiles. They look together at the sky. The stars are shining for the like of them. Slowly, they walk together toward the Red Keep.</p>
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